Constellation Brands

Constellation Brands is continuing to invest behind an own-premise retail strategy for its Ballast Point brand, yesterday confirming plans to open another California brewpub in 2019. The new Ballast Point location – its eighth in California and the tenth in the U.S. — will be located in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood, where the NBA’s Golden State Warriors are building a new stadium.

In the latest round of People Moves: Modern Times scales back its taproom staff; North Carolina’s guild director departs; and more beer company changes.

In this week’s Last Call: A look at California beer production; Sen. Schumer backs permanent excise tax cuts; TTB accepts $20,000 offer in compromise from Cigar City; and more beer industry news.

Constellation Brands will expand its reach in the craft beer segment with the acquisition of Texas’ Four Corners Brewing, the New York-based beverage alcohol company announced today. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

In this edition of People Moves: Joe Menetre, the former vice president of sales at New Belgium Brewing Company, has joined Fort Collins-based Suerte Tequila. Meanwhile, Constellation Brands has appointed former DHL executive Ricardo Bartra as its chief technology officer, and Sun King Brewing president Bob Whitt will step back from his day-to-day responsibilities at the end of July.

Constellation Brands reported its first-quarter fiscal 2019 earnings today, which were highlighted by 8.9 percent growth in beer depletions (sales-to-retailers) and an 8.6 percent increase in shipments compared to the three-month period in 2017. Although beer was a major focus of today’s call, Sands spent a great deal of time discussing and answering questions about Constellation Brands’ $191 million investment into Canadian cannabis company, Canopy Growth Corporation.

Three of the largest U.S. beer companies dropped a slate of new advertisements this week in an effort to capture the attention of soccer fans tuning into the 2018 World Cup. Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, rolled out three new medieval-themed commercials for Bud Light, one of which was created for the World Cup and produced in both English and Spanish.

At the urging of Constellation Brands, California’s Markstein Beverage Co. has sold the beer company’s distribution rights in northern San Diego County to Reyes Beverage Group for an undisclosed sum. In a memo to employees issued on Wednesday, Markstein Beverage president Travis Markstein announced that Constellation Brands had informed the San Marcos-based wholesaler in late April of plans to terminate their 23-year partnership.

U.S. beer dollar sales increased 4.1 percent as volume sales grew 2.1 percent through the four weeks ending May 20, according to retail data provider IRI Worldwide.

Jim Sabia, chief marketing officer of Constellation Brands’ beer division, has been promoted to a newly created role of executive vice president and CMO of the New York-based alcohol company. In a press release, Constellation Brands said Sabia, who joined the organization in 2007 as the vice president of the spirits division, would oversee all aspects of marketing across the company’s beer, wine, and liquor portfolios.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: International M&A heats up with Heineken, Pernod and Constellation; Rebecca Spicer to depart the NBWA; Michigan Senators vote to outlaw marijuana-infused alcoholic drinks; Sonoma County tallies the economic impact of Pliny the Younger; and more.

Ballast Point Brewing Company®, a pioneer in the craft beer movement in San Diego with a 20-plus-year history of supporting the art of homebrewing and developing high-quality, innovative, award-winning beer, opens brewpub in Chicago’s Fulton Market District. The highly anticipated brewpub is set to officially open Tuesday, May 15.

In this week’s edition of Last Call: Another brewery files for bankruptcy; Stone seeks to dismiss MillerCoors’ counterclaims; Tree House and Jester King announce expansion plans; BrewDog and Terrapin announce new hires; and more.

Over the last two years, brewery-owned taprooms and satellite retail outposts have emerged as both lucrative profit centers for emerging craft beer makers and an opportunities to deliver unique experiences to thirsty consumers. But as the number of taprooms has grown, so too have concerns about their impact on the three-tier system.